May 19, 2020

Close the Avenue? Not So Fast

I was hoping this idea of closing Burlingame Ave. to all cars would quietly disappear as things slowly re-open and people get used to mingling a bit. But the City has apparently asked merchants for their opinions so it's an active idea and we have a Guest Perspective in today's Daily Journal that espouses the closure. The author comes from a great B'game family and has done a stint on the Planning Commission, but he might have benefited from serving on Traffic, Safety and Parking instead. I'm sort of glad he broached the topic. Here's bit of that piece

With summer weather approaching and business attendance at an all-time low, now is an incredible, once-in-a-generation time to experiment with what Burlingame Avenue could be like if it were more pedestrian-oriented, and less vehicle-dependent.

The city needs to take strong actions to make sure the heart of its downtown, its restaurants and bars, are positioned as well as possible to succeed in a prolonged sure-to-be-tough environment. The best way the city can do this, in my opinion, is to allow them to operate at normal capacity (while adhering to strict distancing guidelines), through the expansion of temporary seating zones. Of course, the only way to accomplish this would be to follow the example set by Oakland and numerous other cities, and close Burlingame Avenue to cars.

There's an old debate tactic called the Straw Man argument that says you refute an argument that your opponent hasn't actually made. A corollary to that is to refute one argument and omit the others. That's what is going on in this piece:

Now, the obvious contrarian opinion is that there won’t be enough parking (a particularly Burlingame classic!). Well, my response would be: Good! Let’s finally put our environmental policy and action where our mouths are and create paths for people to safely travel, and park, via bicycle.

Allow me to note some better arguments against a full closure. First, there are many other businesses on the Avenue besides restaurants. All of them rely on out-of-towners and B'gamers who live far away and won't walk or bike to their stores. Convenient parking may be over rated by some store owners, but it's not a non-issue. Some of them sell (or would like to sell) more product than one can easily carry for blocks. Second, what about the disabled customers? We have handicap spaces for a reason and it's a good one. No "TSPoon" commissioner would ever think of taking them all out, but a full closure does exactly that. Third, it seems unfair to advantage some restaurants at the expense of others not on the Avenue. Should Park & Howard, Narin, Coconut Bay, Stella Osteria, Il Fornaio, et al just figure it out themselves? I don't think so. How about Broadway? I won't play Straw Man and suggest we close all of downtown, but fair would be fair. Fourth, police and fire access is still required and required fast. How do you do that with tables and diners in the street? Lastly, the realpolitik of the City's situation is a major budget problem as noted here. We are definitely better off than many cities, but with the hotel tax and sales taxes taking a major hit, the revenue from the meters should not be ignored. As the City seems intent on giving away money, perhaps taking some in would be wise.

So what to do? Doing nothing is anathema to government. We've seen that across the board during the corona crisis. Here's a middle position that might work for restaurants all over town. The space in front of the restaurant can become a parklet. I broached the idea eight years ago here. As you can read from 2012 it got no attention--not one comment, but now might be the time. Parklets are big in EssEff and a few sprouted in San Mateo. One space (10' x 20' if memory serves) could hold 2 four tops. Turned twice a night, that would be 16 more diners. Added to sidewalk dining, it would help. Closing the whole street is unfair, may be unsafe and likely costly.

Comments

Here's the first comment from my cross-post comment on NextDoor:

Susan Dirksen, San Mateo Park

Joe, I’ve made a few arguments for closing the Avenue temporarily, to save the restaurants, but the anti-try it group seems to have a great point. Why favor some restaurants, in fact why favor any ? Instead of offering ideas for saving restaurants which I think are the character of Burlingame Avenue, and which I rarely use because I enjoy cooking, I’ll give up and watch what happens.

And keeping in mind your ravenous desire for my quarters to keep your town afloat, I’ll shop in San Mateo. Good luck.
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I love comments that cause me to ask at the end "does she agree with me or disagree?" Let's also note that San Mateo is likely more broke than B'game.

Ha! Funny Joe, as Burlingame will not need San Mateo or Ms. Dirkson to get through this. As you said San Mateo is going to be in deep doo-doo and make Burlingame's balance sheet look like one of my Ferraris parked next to a Jalopy!

Now on to more important matters, such as my opinion. First, I think closing the avenue should be held up to a merchant vote. Secondly, most of the stores on the avenue have rear access along the parallel streets and parking lots, so deliveries and getting to stores/restaurants shouldn't be a huge issue. Thirdly, there is no way restaurant or general retail traffic is going to be as high as pre-COVID, so it's doubtful that parking would be a huge issue. For the disabled, just designate a few more temporary parking spots in the back of the stores.

How's this for creativity? How about start a gofundme campaign for the merchants to convert part of the grassy areas by the HS into parking spaces (like the car show)? Can even put these nice parking pallets on top of the grass/paths around the HS and the park.

Look, the restaurants in Burlingame have definitely improved and you gotta keep that going and allow the owners some flexility and what better way to do so than by closing down the street, extending out the tables and have the middle part of the Ave be for pedestrian traffic. Police and Fire can get to each building from the rear and time to use those parol bicycles, electric carts, scooters, and foot patrols to be on the streets.

Ha! Gotcha..nice little ribbing from my fan base, whom I adore. Seriously guys, what would happen if you put this up for a vote and 80% of the merchants want it?

Don't forget foot traffic = retail traffic! You have to have an economic/commercial mindset.

This idea is working and is being implemented as we speak in other locales (cities, urban areas) with far more restrictions than the Burlingame Ave stores, which almost all have access in the rear either directly or indirectly.

You look to laterals as examples of "can dos"....that is the exact same mentality that gets you to own Ferraris!

Let's try to get into the solutions business....to that end, what is YOUR solution Joe, et al? Griping and poking holes doesn't count! Hypothetically...Let's say you're in charge. What do you do?

I have no intention of becoming the admin that cuts and pastes stuff from responses to me on NextDoor. I'll do a couple more and then let them sink into the bottomless pit of ND:

Monique Kelleher, Burlingame Park

As for the ADA parking, as a user, I’ve noticed EVERY TIME there is major construction on the Avenue, the ADA Blue parking spotS ARE offered up for construction, reducing the number of available ADA parking spaces. There have been times I just go home and order online.

Sylvia Zanello, Hillsborough
I read your response and you make a lot of valid points. Most important fire and police access. I am not in favor of parklets because they only add to the parking problem.

Why does this have to be an "all or nothing" debate. What if the Ave closure is limited to certain days of the week and/or certain hours of the day akin to the Farmers Market. Say Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings from 5 to 9 p.m. with restaurants and bars using the extra space to serve outside. Seems like you would get more foot traffic, lots of diners and casual shoppers. Shops can stay open and sell their goods and may benefit from the added foot traffic.

Hi All, I got one love the idea of Burlingame Ave. closed to traffic. Not sure about the parklet idea, I really don’t want to be dining close to traffic. As much as I love my neighbors, I don’t trust all of them behind the wheel.

How about a temporary solution of closing it for the summer and then see how it works out? We know a lot of the restaurants and businesses will die this summer without some changes.

@Lynn, Somewhere I have a photo of the parklet design (there were ones in front of Pausa and 31st Union in San Mateo) showing the substantial railings that separate the tables from the traffic. A lot of thought went into the design by professionals. I do understand the concern--just not sure it's enough to stop the idea.

Snitch says follow the money. Who owns most of the buildings on the avenue and who do they donate to. More important is who on the council would like to get their donations for higher office. The poor little guys on the side streets are just gonna take in the you know what. The avenue is the real candy store in town. Right, Brucey?

Calculating a circle's arc length, central angle, and circumference from school days allows you to determine how far you need to walk to reach any store or restaurant on Burlingame Ave. The best I can tell you have an average of 150 yards. Who besides a handicapped person has an issue walking 150 yards?

It depends. If I have a kid on one hand and an armful of dry cleaning on the other I might not want to walk that far.

I spoke with one of the restaurant owners on Burlingame Ave. who thinks a complete shutdown is crazy. They would like Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 6-11pm only. That would solve a couple of the problems listed here. It's still not fair to the other restaurants though.

It works all across Europe, but as usual, it's simply impossible in NIMBY Burlingame. B-game missed a golden opportunity to become a pedestrian area during the redesign in the early 2010's, and here it goes again.

After seeing the giant fire on Pier 45 yesterday I have a vision of our own fire trucks plowing through the outdoor heaters uhap knows will be out in the street to keep everyone warm. People diving out of the way and heaters being run over as the seagulls swoop in for the french fries and pizza crusts from Rise and Delfina. Just like AT&T with smoke and fire. Remember Chicken Chicken.

I am in favor of at least doing a trial shutdown of the Ave at certain times that make sense. It could be wonderful. The arguments I see here against the idea are not specific to Burlingame, and thus they ring somewhat hollow because we all know that there are lots of places in the US and around the world that make it work. Are there a few challenges? Sure, but that doesn't mean they by definition outweigh the benefits.

If you want to actually drive from A to B around downtown Burlingame, you don't go on the Ave anyway because it is so dang slow. And we have a pretty good network of side streets to handle the traffic and parking.

There are only a few streets on the peninsula that I know of that could make really nice pedestrian-only areas (at certain times). Burlingame Ave is clearly one.

Lastly, a minor point: I sure wouldn't miss those losers who drive back and forth along the Ave in their souped-up cars, blasting music and revving their engines. Makes Burlingame Ave feel more like ... Miami.

I would hate to see more ugly No Parking signs attached to EACH parking meter on the Ave. like they are in front of the old Post Office for the Farmer's Market. We have too much visual pollution already. I agree with you on the noise pollution. Maybe the officers sitting in front of the Apple store could write a few nuisance tickets for $250 and solve that. And when is free parking ending? The spaces on the Ave. are almost full now.

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